Project 3: Are videogames the gateway to an educational evolution? (Final Draft)

My paper addressed why videogames need to be implemented into modern education, and how this change will be the gateway for education to evolve.  Education has not changed for the past 40 years, and with our current situation, education needs to change in order to effectively teach students and help them thrive. This paper also dives into what could happen if we don't make this change in education, and what opportunities both students and schools alike will miss.

Olivia Sabb 

Professor Atkins-Gorteeva 

ENGL 1312 

April 11, 2022 

Are videogames the gateway to an educational evolution? 

 

Videogames have quickly grown to be one of the top forms of entertainment in today’s world. The detailed graphics, bright colors, and challenges in modern videogames engulf the attention of many children for hours at a time nonstop, and with videogames booming in popularity, companies have made gaming a versatile piece of entertainment. Videogames can be played on almost any platform, from mobile to consoles to PC’s, and with many children in America owning electronics, this lets children play anywhere anytime depending on whether the game requires internet connection. With these critical details, children are highly motivated for hours at a time playing, and these hours have increased with the current COVID-19 pandemic, in the beginning of this pandemic, millions of students converted to virtual school and many still are still going virtual today under these circumstances. This leaves many children bored and without nothing to do at home, and with not being able to socialize in person or go outside as much, videogames may fill the schedules of many children. Schools pushed to supply students who have no access to electronics to complete schoolwork in quarantine and have succeeded, and with videogames being playable on almost any device, educational gaming can be accessible to their students, paired along with children having side time to game, even during school weeks. 

Without schools adding educational gaming to their teachings, students may not be as focused and may have a harder time getting motivated to do work and struggle to understand harder concepts of the classes they’re taking. The school will miss the overall benefit of a win-win situation by helping their students retain and stay interested in the information present in the classroom while also keeping the students entertained during and after quarantine. 

When it comes to videogames, students become motivated and pour copious amounts of time, sometimes hours into gameplay. Arena provides the following statement from Brockmyer, American students between ages 8 and 18 years spend about 13.2 hours each week playing videogames. This is a significant amount of time, and schools and communities can take advantage of this time spent towards gaming by providing or assigning videogames who have story lines or gameplay centered around the student’s current coursework such as English and history. The combination of videogames and education not only entices students to learn, but to also allows them to become motivated while playing while helping students boost their critical thinking skills throughout gameplay.  

Not only do Schools need to take advantage of the time students spend gaming, but they also need to take advantage effectively, as students should learn from the videogames. A few years ago, when I was still in elementary school, our teachers let my class and I play Prodigy, a math game that let you build your math skills while also using the points received from learning to buy and level up your pets in game and going into battle by solving math problems. Although I played for only 30-45 minutes a day in class, after a few weeks I had many math formulas mastered in my mind and I not only had fun leveling up my pets and defeating monsters, but my grades started significantly improving. “In the classroom, one important advantage is the ability of games and game-based activities to entice internal learning motivation by introducing various ‘joyful’ elements” (Hartt et al. 590). Without motivation, students won’t be as willing to learn, and with videogames containing elements to keep their players around and motivated to play, such as challenges and storylines, education can be implemented into these elements and students be captured by these elements while the gameplay also has them learn and master the course material in order to advance. “This notion has caught the attention of those inside the Washington, DC Beltway. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS, 2006) called video games the next great discovery, as they offer a way to captivate students to the point that they will spend hours learning on their own time.” (Annetta 230) The elements of videogames make them a perfect tool to motivate students to learn with positive emotional responses. Without enjoyment, learning may become a difficult feat to overcome. 

Even just casual videogames can help boost the critical thinking skills of students, as they promote teamwork in multiplayer settings, encouraging students to interact with their pears and form plans and make decisions to overcome a task, such as Among Us. Problem solving is encouraged through puzzle and challenging videogames, like Fez. These games require great critical skills, and with the world becoming more digital and demanding more technical and critical skills, games with these properties can be an essential tool to get education where it needs to be in the world today. According to Ashintoff, videogames are learning machines in themselves; The player first must complete the tutorial to gain familiarity with the game mechanics. Afterwards, the player applies strategy and planning to complete tasks which more complex as the player passes levels or challenges. Eventually, the game switches from teaching to an experience passed process. Ashintoff also states that video games teach the player to use critical thinking skills to evaluate any situation in game and determine the best course of action. “Starcraft 2 (as well as its predecessors Starcraft and Starcraft: Brood War) is what is called a “Real Time Strategy” game. Players must obtain various resources and use them to purchase buildings and fighting units. Then, they must fight and defeat their enemy. To play this game successfully, players must manage their time and resources more efficiently than their opponents as each building and unit have a different cost, purpose, and build time.” (Ashintoff 1) Videogames include many strategic and critical aspects in their games, and many multiplayer games have players use teamwork to assign a leadership and roles to complete a task successfully and efficiently. These same skills are used in the classrooms when it comes to group projects and working environments, and schools need these skills to skyrocket for their students. 

Some universities have already taken advantage of this opportunity and have put their own videogames into the scene to enhance their courses and help their students learn. The FAS, Brown University, and the University of Southern developed a serious educational game, Immune Attack, which was made to teach complex biology and immunology to students as an alternate means of education (Annetta 230) This game not only requires strategy, but also teaches the player about biology and the immune system. More examples include Environmental Detectives, developed by the Education Arcade, and River City, developed by Chris Dede from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Both games strive to teach research skills. “These educational games commonly require the use of logic, memory, problem-solving, critical thinking skills, visualization, and discovery. Moreover, the use of these gaming technologies requires that users manipulate virtual objects using electronic tools and develop an understanding of the complex systems being modeled.” (Annetta 231) And with most games, the player(s) may need to switch up strategies and make many new ones depending on the situation, making the player more flexible with problem solving and thinking. Videogames can also benefit students outside of just education and skill building, as the results from Ashinoff’s experiment prove. Participants who have never played videogames play super mario 64, a puzzle game, for a controlled amount of time. Gray matter in the brain was measured before and after training, and it was found that gray matter significantly grew after training. This is essential, as there is evidence this training has also improved other cognitive functions, such as memory and attentional shifting. These educational and cognitively stimulating properties of videogames can improve students’ growing young minds inside and outside of school. 

With most of today’s generation being accustomed to the digital age, education is painfully behind. The United States’ schooling and the skillset they teach has not changed much in the past 40 years, and videogames can be the gateway for this change. Not only is the skillset of the 21st century different from what was needed in the 20th century, but our outdated system is not yet prepared for students in all types of educational scenarios, such as online and hybrid classes, Videogames can cross this bridge as they are very versatile and can teach students the critical skills that are in extreme demand in today’s world and the future. In 2005, The Business-Higher Education Forum states that Future generations need science and mathematics skills, creativity, information, and communication technologies skills, and complex problem skills (Annetta 231). Videogames are a great gateway for education to develop and adapt to the needs of the 21st century and future students, as they not only make the player develop different strategies in game, but also involves teamwork, time managing, and other important critical skills students will need for the world today.  

Videogames may have many beneficial properties students can prosper from, but the stigma behind videogames will be a large feat for education to overcome. Whitton argues that not only media molds the attitudes and thoughts on videogames in learning, but other barriers also have an impact. Whitton also adds a statement in 2010 from Bourgonjon, Valcke, Soetaert, & Schellens Students may not be open to gaming for reason such as how much each individual student understands about videogames, gendered preferences, or the view that ‘fun’ and learning cannot mix. Whitton also adds a statement from Buckingham & Scanlon in 2010 that these views may be from using low quality “edutainment” games that reward the student for interacting with educational content. The stigma of gaming also carries over into adult learners and parents alike and are more severe in this demographic. “Adult learners in particular may be less likely to find computer games intrinsically motivational and need to be convinced of their efficacy as a learning tool (Whitton, 2010)” (Whitton and McClure 562). Whitton also provides a statement from Buckingham in 2011, “Parents may feel caught between fear of the ‘corrupting influence’ of consumerism and a belief that its products might support their children’s learning and self-expression”. What motivates people can vary, but in a single demographic the majority believe around the same thing, and in this case many adults may believe that videogames aren’t needed or may not have been educated about the benefits of videogames and shown mostly the ‘harmful’ effects of videogames. However, these views can be changed, as the field of educational games has developed and learned, Arena addresses and recognizes the failures and bad starts for educational videogames, using the phrase “chocolate-covered broccoli” to describe how education and videogames were poorly forced together, making the combination neither educational nor entertaining. Over time, the world of educational gaming has evolved and learned more, and thus many modern examples of the genre do a better job of recruiting pedagogically valuable qualities. Teachers, parents, and adult learners alike need to be informed of this in order to have a breakthrough, change their thoughts on educational gaming and make the path to educational gaming being the norm among schools smoother. 
The media’s representation of videogames is harmful to videogames and portrays gaming as addictive and attention shortening, to where violence can stem from. Whitton discovered that out of the 112 videogames articles he reviewed, two-thirds of all articles portrayed videogames as negative. Videogames do have violent themes which may influence impressionable individuals and may cause them to reenact violent scenes or have violent behaviors, but this doesn’t account for all or even most gamers. The media’s negative articles on videogames impact teacher’s and parent’s views on digital gaming alike, in addition, this will make convincing not only teachers, but school districts to use videogames in their lessons difficult. Logically dissecting these negative articles could convince teachers, as the media leaves out positive educational and learning benefits that have researched to back them up and considering other factors that cause ‘videogame addicts’. 

Although there is strong research on the effectiveness of educational games in schools, there are people who may not be so convinced still. Some people may state that videogames have been proven to be a distraction, and a main reason for why students’ grades can get derailed. Videogames themselves are not bad, nor good for people. They are a neutral, but when correctly used in classroom settings, can result in fruitful results. According to Khalid’s experiment, students grew and developed their social skills with other students. In academic competitions, students reported that videogames pushed them to communicate with others appropriately. Videogames, especially multiplayer games, can encourage students to socialize with others and develop their social skills, and so excessive gaming time may cause students to slip up on schoolwork, but the game itself will not ‘dumb down’ students, monitoring time spent gaming and doing homework will solve this problem.   

Others may counter that videogame don’t push students to use critical thinking or even learn in game or won’t apply any critical skills gained from videogames to real life scenarios, but this just isn’t the case most of the time. According to Khalid’s experiment where he had students, students grew and developed their social skills with other students “Students were of view that many competitions were held in their academic session, for example debate and poetry, and they participated confidently in such competitions because playing video games urged them to communicate with other people virtually in an appropriate language” (Khalid 499). Students not only learned about course subjects (Debate and poetry) but also developed their social skills further, which is a key critical skill. Students also learn to take advantage of resources and learn how to use and locate unique tools, “Data exposed that video games have enabled users to locate information and use different information tools (tutorials) for solving problems” (Khalid 499). In addition, one may oppose educational gaming due to thinking that being accustomed to videogames in classrooms will cause the rejection of main traditional learning media, such as textbooks, projectors, and teaching on whiteboards. This is not the case, as videogames will be used as enhancing tools, as Annetta states that good teaching will not be overpowered by videogames in class and are only an enhancer to help engage students in their course materials and help them grasp complex concepts in the real worlds in comfortable spaces (Annetta 236). Videogames help students develop critical thinking skills and learn the material in their classes as an effective tool in their education. 

Although videogames can be effective learning tools when harnessed right, using them incorrectly can cause students to lose focus on their learning and make them, along with teachers, doubt games. Schools, elementary to colleges, want their students to have the best grades possible while also preparing them for the real world and the first step needs to be educating the teachers on videogames, as teachers play a large role in school education. Baek, a professor in educational technology, states “Despite this call, little exists in the literature to guide teachers in how to actually implement games, particularly in a formal educational setting.” (qtd. In Watson and Fang 78) Without thorough information on how teachers can implement videogames into their lessons, gaming may do more harm than good, and this is a crucial step above all to get games in the classroom. Watson also provides the following statement “In practice, teachers can play a very large and important role in setting goals and promoting reflection by students playing games in formal educational settings (Watson, Mong, & Harris, 2011).” (Watson and Fang 78) Teachers need to be educated on videogames and gaming with course materials in order to teach their students properly and to have a good balance of gaming, and learning.  

With videogames in the classroom, students will not only learn and grow critical thinking skills, but they will also be able to understand and retain topics and terms from the course material they are given in school. Videogames allow students to be medicated to learn in and outside of the classroom. With today’s world, videogames as an educational tool can benefit both today and future generations of students, as videogames promote the skills needed for today’s world and will become more and more in demand as the world develops. Along with the world developing, this will also help education develop and evolve further so it teaches students the skills of the present and future, and not skills that were useful 40 years ago. Videogames are the gateway to developing education and keeping students motivated in their learning and overall development. 

 

 

Works Cited 

Annetta, Leonard A. “Video Games in Education: Why They Should Be Used and How They Are Being Used.” Theory Into Practice, vol. 47, no. 3, 2008, pp. 229–239. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840802153940 . Accessed 1 Mar. 2022. 

Arena, Dylan. “Video Games as Tillers of Soil.” Theory Into Practice, vol. 54, no. 2, 2015, pp. 94–100. Academic Search Elite, EBSCO, https://doi.org/10.1080/02697459.2020.1778859. Accessed 3 Mar. 2022 

Ashinoff, Brandon K. “The Potential of Video Games as a Pedagogical Tool.” Frontiers in Psychology, Frontiers Media S.A., 30 Sept. 2014, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4179712/# . Accessed 2 Mar. 2022. 

Hartt, Maxwell, et al. “Game on: Exploring the Effectiveness of Game-Based Learning.” Planning Practice & Research, vol. 35, no. 5, 16 June 2020, pp. 589–604. Academic Search Elite, https://doi.org/10.1080/02697459.2020.1778859 . Accessed 1 Mar. 2022 

Khalid, Tooba, et al. “Pakistani Students’ Perceptions about Their Learning Experience through Video Games.” Library Hi Tech, vol. 38, no. 3, 15 Nov. 2019, pp. 493–503. Library & Information Science Abstracts (LISA), https://doi.org/10.1108/lht-03-2019-0068. Accessed 27 Feb. 2022. 

Watson, William R., and Jun Fang. “PBL as a Framework for Implementing Video Games in the Classroom.” International Journal of Game-Based Learning, vol. 2, no. 1, Jan. 2012, pp. 77–89. Gale Onefile: Computer Science, https://doi.org/10.4018/ijgbl.2012010105 . Accessed 6 Mar. 2022. 

Whitton, Nicola, and Maggie Maclure. “Video Game Discourses and Implications for Game-Based Education.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, vol. 38, no. 4, 21 Aug. 2017, pp. 561–572. Academic Search Elite, https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2015.1123222 . Accessed 1 Mar. 2022